Challenge
Challenge Mode is a separate gamemode, unlocked after completing the Kalard Chronicles (Episode 8). There are harder bosses and a chance to obtain pages, books, sigils and unfamilar stones, iron and gold (although not mentioned in the obtainable rewards). These stages are very hard and live up to their name, and many people might not be able to complete them due to the lack of heroes. Challenge Mode works likes so: you enter a stage, and there will be 2 initial waves. After these 2 waves, you will meet the first boss. If you defeat the boss, you will reach a stopping point where you can choose to progress to the next area or choose to escape. If you choose to go to the next area, you will meet another boss and you can progress until you’ve met a total of all 4 bosses on the stage. You can escape at any time if you do not think you can defeat the next boss. If you die in the middle of any stage, all rewards will be lost. Escaping or Completing the stage is the only way to retain rewards. Most bosses have a Berserk Timer. The Berserk Timer starts as soon as entering the stage and if it ends, the boss will get a ton of defense, attack power, movement speed, and attack speed. Most boss’s Berserk Timers are usually ~2-3 minutes, with some not having any and some have weirder requirements. If you’re ever asking how to deal with bosses in their Berserk Mode, the answer is Your Damage Sucks (except for some oddballs, which will be pointed out). With the Challenge Mode nerf on 3/28/2018, bosses have lost Debuff Immunity properties, however still retain stun immunity. This opens up many debuff-based units. Challenge Mode has a 23% Damage Cap. Meaning, with any given hit, that damage cannot exceed more than 23% of the boss’s maximum HP. For the sake of simplicity, here is a table with the abbreviations. Stage 01 - Goblin Battlegrounds The initial wave of Challenge 1 isn’t too difficult. The most dangerous enemy in the wave is probably the catapult in the back. The Catapult throws a projectile that bounces and can kill your backline if they don’t have enough HP and you don’t get your defenses up in time. Just beware that this enemy exist and try to put up your tanking as soon as possible if your DPS has less than 10k HP. Otherwise, you’re probably fine if you can initiate tanking and shields quickly. The Mini-ogres will tank for both waves and have bonus defenses, you can remove his defense buff and tanking with bombs. If you want to clear the wave faster, try to have both bombs active and ready to go when wave 2 spawns in, and that’ll increase your clear speed slightly. Boss 1 - Windstrider Boss Stats: Windstrider is the only mob on his stage. Windstrider has 2 magic attacks. Whirlwind Arrow - Windstrider will draw his bow after a 0.5 second delay, Windstrider shoots a Whirlwind Arrow that deals massive magic damage. Whirlwind Arrow pierces and has slight knockback. Driving Feathers - Windstrider shoots a multi-hit attack that targets the backline of your team. Windstrider’s attack pattern is fixed. Windstrider attacks whenever his SP bar fills up. When you first enter the stage, Windstrider will use Whirlwind Arrow. After Whirlwind Arrow, the next time his SP bar fills up, he will use Driving Feathers. Then he will use Whirlwind Arrow and the cycle repeats, essentially being Whirlwind Arrow -> Driving Feathers -> Whirlwind Arrow -> Driving Feathers -> etc., until he goes Berserk, in which case the pattern’s still the same. Windstrider’s normal autoattacks have a slight knockback on them, and deals low magic damage. In general, Windstrider is just extremely bursty in his shots, but also can be easily tanked. Alex is the easiest solution, assuming you get the Alex blocks, Alex’s SBW immunity basically completely negates Windstrider’s attacks. Necron users can also tap a 1-chain right before Windstrider’s SP fills up and his ghosts can fully tank the attacks. Recommended ways of dealing with Windstrider: * Immunity spam, like Alex, Captain, or Mew. * Drake or Seiren (with HP Sigils preferably to strengthen the shield for more safety) * Necron Ghost with 1-chain tanking active prior to attack * Paladin with SP/Special Skill generation + SoP with a bit of ally help, like PoG or Mew Balloon or a Beatrice buff. Paladins ilke Hector or Wolfgang or Sahad can easily sustain SoP. Paladins with a priest like Yeo or Yuria can also sustain SoP without SP generation, however the initial wave can be threatening to your other units. * Beatrice + SoG Mew. * Sera. It’s slightly harder to time Sera when dealing with Windstrider, since he does have some delay after his SP bar fills. Winstrider fires the Whirlwind Arrow approximately 2 seconds after his SP bar fills and Driving Feathers about 1 second after his SP bar fills. Be ready to tap Sera. * Inheritance P2W (i20 ez) I heavily recommend using one of the above strategies. Many other ways does not work, for example Joan has an EXTREMELY hard time tanking Challenge 1, as does a Sworden. I’m sure it’s possible to do it with these heroes or other strategies, but the above listed won’t give you a heart attack every time Windstrider’s SP bar fills up. Boss 2 - Catapult No. 6 Boss Stats: Catapult No. 6 has only 1 attack. Fire Bomb - Every 1.5 seconds, Catapult No. 6 throws a glob of fire. The Fire lands on your frontline area and sets the ground on fire. Units inside the fire take massive DOT physical damage. This is essentially Catapult No. 6’s autoattack. Catapult No. 6 is accompanied by a wave of mobs. To get to the Catapult No. 6, you have to kill the wave in front of it. This is often a problem, however, since Catapult No. 6 hits extremely hard and is dangerous if not dealt with quickly. And believe me, you do NOT want to be around when Catapult No. 6 is Berserk (a better question, why did you bring a team that can survive long enough to get the Catapult to Berserk mode?) Catapult No. 6 does have a crippling weakness, however. Catapult can do a TON of multihits. This allows the skill Thorns of Vengeance to be a relatively easy cheese. Thorns of Vengeance - Upon activation, immediately reflects 65% of all damage received by entire party as neutral damage for 7 seconds. When 3 hits are reflected, the enemy instantly receives neutral damage equal to 3% of their maximum HP. (Note that the original description claims the 3% of their max HP is physical damage; this is incorrect, it is neutral damage) This is Level 5 Thorns, however if you don’t have Cain, you can Transcend Level 2 Thorns for Level 3, which is weaker but does it’s job. The Catapult does about ~10 hits per second, meaning that it kills itself very quickly off a Thorns of Vengeance Paladin. If your whole team is in the Fire, it might only take 3 Fire Bombs before the Catapult kill itself. It is very possible to survive without Thorns, however Thorns just makes the Catapult wave generally much easier. If you can’t use Thorns, you will need a lot of armor and/or DR + healing. * Paladin + Thorns is easiest way. * Drake/Seiren’s shields work great here if invested. * Paladin SoP users like Hector/Wolfgang/Sahad with enough healing can tank Fire Bomb with an armor slot. * Beatrice with an armor slot can protect most teams. * LoG or PoG or SoG with sufficient healing can protect most teams. Boss 3 - Crouching Ox Boss Stats: Crouching Ox has 2 separate attacks. Champion’s Axe Stab - After a 1 second delay, Crouching Ox stabs forward, dealing 10,000 neutral damage to all heroes in range. This is attack can be parried with Bombs, which will stun Crouching Ox and go on to the next attack. Champion’s Axe Swing - After a 1.5 second delay, Crouching Ox slices from upwards, dealing 30,000 neutral damage to all heroes in range. This is attack can be parried with Bombs, which will stun Crouching Ox and go on to the next attack. Crouching Ox is actually arguably easier than Windstrider or Catapult No. 6, mainly because you can stunlock Crouching Ox. Whenever he starts to initiate an attack, tapping a bomb will stun him. Do note however that his SP bar does not drain if stunned, and like Windstrider, he will simply alternate attacks. If you stun him, he will perform the next one. Ox’s pattern is Stab -> Swing -> Stab -> Swing -> If stunned, go to next action. Champion Axe Stab is very easily tankable. Champion Axe Swing is a different story however, unless your tank has a ton of HP with DR or something, your tank is not likely going to survive. I’d save a bomb whenever Crouching Ox is going to do a Champion Axe Swing, and then simply tank the Axe stab and spam bombs until Champion Axe Swing comes. If you need to block both, use Chronos to make your bomb timing much easier. Chronos extends time it takes Ox’s SP to generate and gives you more time to parry with bombs. Since if you simply stun him on one attack, he will recover and use the next attack before your bombs get up, therefore if you need to block both attacks, either use Sera or Chronos. Boss 4 - Desperate Goblin Chief Boss Stats: * Boss Berserk Special Condition The Chief has really only 1 ability. Very arguably the easiest boss in Challenge 1. Chupatuka - Goblin Chief summons 3 Goblin Shields (each one 90K HP). If Chupatuka is used when already active, Goblin Chief goes Berserk. Nothing special about this boss. Each Goblin Shield can be destroyed by 1 bomb, so if you don’t have enough damage, 3 bombs is all you need to disable Chupatuka. Then it’s just kill him. His autoattacks are consistent and can do a respectable amount of damage, however, make sure you have consistent healing or a good tank. Boss immediately activates Berserk Mode if he uses Chupatuka with the shield already active. If he’s berserking, learn to tap bombs. If you are looking for faster ways to kill him, note that his shield is a Seiren style shield; it has 3 layers. The most efficient way to kill him would be use 1 bomb for the first layer, use pure damage for the second layer, and then bomb the third. This only works if your team can deal massive damage, however. Not recommended for heroes that can’t deal like 500k damage in 5 seconds.